Federal Colonial farmhouse renovation in beautiful Vermont

Taking Down the Old Shed

This past weekend we began tearing down the old shed, starting with the siding, doors and windows. As mentioned in an earlier post, we are taking it down to make way for future deck, lawn or some combination there-of. We really want to capture the views to the fields and trees beyond the house and now that the siding has been removed it is exciting to see through it and imagine what those views are going to look like.

Taking down the siding exposes the old timber frame construction and we’re hoping a local contractor or home owner will see the potential take to repurpose the structure as a shed or addition, or use the old wood for flooring. Luckily we’ve been able to salvage some good boards ourselves for future projects.

History

In the fall of 2013 we embarked on a joint family venture of owning a rural antique colonial in Vermont as a family get away and vacation home. After looking at only 3 other homes we all agreed that this house had the most potential and truly was a diamond in the rough.

The house has so much history and character. It is a classic Federal-style Farmhouse Colonial, built by hand with traditional post and beam construction in 1786. It once served as an inn and a tavern. A back addition was added in the early 1800's and was the community's meeting house for many years. We are only the 3rd family to own this house in over 225 years.

The house was vacant since 2006 and had not been updated in over 30 years. That did not deter us and we felt that with all of our joint effort and skills we could not pass this opportunity up.

In the months since, we have completed some major renovations and the work keeps continuing. This blog is intended as a journal of our progress and outcomes. I hope you enjoy it.